“This fight is the most important fight of my life,” Nogueira said. “I’m just focused on this fight. I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I’m going to try to do my best, and if I win, I think I’m going to be in a good place in the light-heavyweight division.”

“Minotouro” is simply looking for some footing following a 14-month injury layoff. Prior to a knee injury, the former PRIDE fighter had rebounded from back-to-back losses to UFC contenders Ryan Bader and Phil Davis with a first-round destruction of Tito Ortiz. That got the 36-year-old back on the radar, though he’s barely been a blip recently due to the recent layoff.

While it’d be easy to look as this matchup as two veterans who are fighting both each other and ring rust – Evans also has been on the shelf for 10 months – Nogueira said his layoff has actually been a motivating force.

“It’s been 14 months or so without a fight, but I think it’s going to motivate me,” he said. “I can’t wait to fight again. I trained a lot. I know this is a big fight on a big card, and I’m motivated for it.”

And there’s no doubting his group of stablemates from Team Nogueira and Black House. In preparation for his Super Bowl weekend bout, Nogueira has trained with his fellow Brazilians, including Silva, former champion Junior Dos Santos, Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante and a host of other notables.

“We have a good team,” he said. “I think we have the biggest Brazilian team now. THose guys motivate me a lot. You have to train very serious with these guys because we train really hard in Brazil.

Nogueira made his promotional debut in 2009 and promptly defeated Luiz Cane and Jason Brilz. It moved his win streak to seven fights and moved him into contention. The Bader and Davis losses, though, dropped him from the upper echelon of a division.

So where is he now, and what would a victory over a top contender such as Evans do for him?

“I don’t know,” Nogueira said. “Some guys say I’m top 10. Some say top 15. But I want to be in the top five.

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